Rugby World Cup: England 36 - 20 Tonga

Is that the sound of a corner being turned?  Jim Rosenthal was desperately trying to interpret this victory as that in the post-match analysis, but as we know Jim knows as much about rugby as an Austrian ski instructor.  I'll go as far as to say it was the best performance so far, which is as faint praise as saying that Revenge of the Sith was the best of the new Star Wars films, but make no mistake: England are going to lose to Australia next Saturday.

England at least finally put some pace on the ball, and credit must be given to Paul Sackey for turning around his form from worse than a  club player against the Boks to a genuine top performance in the next two games.  The ball was kicked a lot, and I doubt it will be so against the Wallabies, but if England intend to hold onto the ball more then they have a tough week of retention drills ahead, as their turnover rate was unacceptable.

There are flickers of the flame of hope for England fans.  Expect Mortlock and co to turn up next week armed with fire extinguishers.

Moment of the match: The unfettered joy on Andy Farrell's face as he cleverly dummied and crashed over to score late on.

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